Why It's Taking Off: Rockpack aims to solve the video-discovery problem, and it has gathered an impressive group of advisors, investors and content-providers to make that happen.

One night, Sofia Fenichell was sitting at her kitchen table, going through her inbox and clearing out all the irrelevant messages sent to her by marketers, when she stumbled upon a friend's email that contained a video; it made her laugh out loud.

"I asked myself why do companies bother sending emails that say 'If you liked watching that, then you might enjoy this?'" Fenichell told Mashable in an interview. "Suddenly it became clear to me: Personal recommendation trumps algorithms. It even trumps search. It's the only thing that matters."

This epiphany, which Fenichell had last May, led her to create Rockpack, a video-discovery and curation tool, which launched Wednesday. ShowYou, Chill, Telly and other startups have all launched in recent years to address the video-discovery problem with mixed success.

"We are still in the Pony Express days of video-sharing," Fenichell said.

Rockpack aims to improve the video-sharing and discovery experience by simplifying it as much as possible. Inspired by Instagram, Fenichell and her team designed Rockpack so that users can create video channels in just a couple of taps: They simply tap the plus sign on any video, select a collection and add an optional cover photo to personalize the collection.

The startup is also working a range of brand partners to curate channels, including National Geographic, Warner Bros. and College Humor. There are currently more than 2,000 curated channels and the plan, according to Fenichell, is to see that number grow to one million by the end of this year.

Rockpack's goal may be ambitious, but the startup has gathered an impressive group of investors and and advisors to make it happen. It raised $2 million in funding last year led by Qualcomm Ventures, and its advisory board includes big names such as actor Stephen Fry, Topshop CMO Justin Cooke and former head of Apple Europe Pascal Cagni. Fenichell also brings a wealth of experience to the company, having spent years working at hedge funds, and more recently consulting for startups.

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is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.